Feeding Our Faith

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Feeding Our Faith: The Celebration of the Eucharist.

Eucharist, literally “good grace,” is what some churches call communion. On the night of Jesus’ last supper, he gave thanks for the meal and made it into a symbol and sacrament of his life. The bread is his body broken and the cup is his life poured out. As he shares this meal with his disciples, he shares himself with the world.

There have been many interpretations about what actually happens when Christians receive communion, whether the elements become the “actual” body and blood of Christ or whether the event is only a remembrance of the first communion. Whatever the theology behind the Eucharist is, it is difficult to deny that what makes the Eucharist an important meal is the bringing together the people of the church. It is about the act of making one, an act in which theologians call “atonement.” Christ shares of himself, dividing himself into many, so that we can be made whole.

In this series, we discuss what communion means in the lives of theologians, authors, and food pantry workers. We will see how the Eucharist goes far beyond the limited “theologies” that people debate about, and how we can only find meaning through an experience of it. In this way, what happens to us in the Eucharist is the more important than what we believe about it. What does it mean to be in the embrace of God and others? How can we embrace this in the bread and the wine?